Part of the Vilnius – European capital of culture 2009 program ARTscape is a large-scale project that involves contemporary art, cinema and jazz, co-organized by some of the most qualified cultural institutions: “Kino pavasaris”, “Vilnius jazz” and Gallery VARTAI. Throughout the year 2009 and in the beginning of 2010 these three experienced institutions will be presenting the contemporary culture scenes of twelve European countries, the cities of which are, were, or will become European capitals of culture. The three different media – art, cinema and music – will outline the diagrams of dynamic cultural processes.

HANS OP DE BEECK CIRCUMSTANCES

MONIKA BIELSKYTĖ A PLACE TO WASH THE HEART

VARTAI gallery presents the cycle of video works by the contemporary Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck titled “Circumstances” and consisting of six individual videos. Hans Op de Beeck has been recording the flow of life with a video camera since 1996. In 2008, this cycle of works was displayed in Rogaland art museum, Norway. In his works, the Flemish artist uses the media of video, installation and sculpture, animation and drawing, design and text to recreate and stage life, household and urban situations and to turn them into enacted scenes. The plots are full of reflections and point to the absurdity, boredom and senselessness of life; there is a feeling that the characters captured in the videos are being watched and often seem tragicomic.

Young Lithuanian artist Monika Bielskytė, who has been residing in Paris for five years now, presents a part of her project titled “A Place to Wash the Heart” which was first displayed in FOAM museum of photography in Amsterdam in 2008. Between 2006 and 2008, Bielskytė travelled across the countries of the Far East: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and other. During those journeys, the artist was inspired by the beauty of landscapes as well as tragic and turbulent history of people. “A Place to Wash the Heart” is an installation consisting of projections and texts based on Oriental and Western philosophy as well as personal experiences of the artist. The combination of the pieces of art seems like a collection of excerpts from an anonymous diary focusing on a close relationship between documentary and narrative.

The exhibition was organised in cooperation with Xavier Hufkens gallery.